How to Prepare for the Wharton Moelis Team-Based Discussion

Prepare for the TBD by practicing how to advance a group's thinking rather than win an argument — the evaluators are watching for collaborative leadership, not dominance. In the session itself, listen actively, build on others' points, ask clarifying questions, and help the group reach a decision. The most common failure mode is over-talking; the second most common is disengaging when your idea isn't adopted.

The Wharton MBA interview process includes a Team-Based Discussion (TBD) — a group exercise where candidates work together to solve a real business problem. The Moelis Advance Access Program, Wharton's deferred enrollment path, uses this same format for invited candidates.

Here's what to expect, and how to prepare.

What the Team-Based Discussion Is

The TBD puts 5–6 candidates in a room together with a case or prompt. The group is asked to work through a problem — typically a business scenario with ambiguous information and no clean answer — and present a recommendation.

Unlike a traditional interview, there's no single interviewer asking you questions. Instead, you're observed while working with a group of other highly competitive candidates.

What they're evaluating:

• How you contribute to a group discussion under pressure
• Whether you can advance the group's thinking without dominating or disengaging
• How you handle disagreement, uncertainty, or time pressure
• Whether you're the person the group would actually want to work with

What They Are Not Looking For

They are not looking for the "winner." The TBD is not a debate. The person who talks the most, argues the hardest, or pushes their recommendation to victory is not the person who impresses admissions staff. In fact, aggressive domination is one of the most common ways candidates fail the TBD.

They are not primarily evaluating your business knowledge. You don't need to be an industry expert on the topic. The prompt is usually chosen to be accessible. The evaluation is about process and collaboration, not domain expertise.

They are not looking for you to agree with everyone. Superficial consensus-building ("That's a great point, I totally agree!") is also a weakness signal. The best participants advance the thinking — which sometimes means introducing a perspective that pushes back on the prevailing direction.

The Behaviors That Stand Out Positively

1. Ask a clarifying question early. Before the group jumps to solutions, clarify the problem. What's the decision criteria? What are the constraints? This slows down the rush to conclusions and often reframes the problem more usefully. It also signals analytical discipline.

2. Build on others' ideas explicitly. When someone says something useful, say so and build on it: "That's an important point — if we add X to that, I think it suggests Y." This shows you're listening and contributing to collaborative progress, not just waiting to make your own point.

3. Synthesize when the group is getting scattered. Groups tend to generate many ideas and lose the thread. The candidate who can say "Let me try to summarize where we are and what the key trade-offs look like" is providing a genuinely useful function — and it's visible to observers.

4. Manage the clock. Groups almost always run out of time. Noticing this and helping the group prioritize ("We have 5 minutes left — what do we most need to agree on?") is a natural leadership moment that's often missed.

5. Disagree thoughtfully, not aggressively. If the group is heading in a direction you think is wrong, say so — but frame it as a question or concern, not a correction. "I want to push back slightly on that — have we thought about X?" invites engagement. "That's wrong because Y" shuts people down.

How to Prepare

1. Practice group case discussions. Find 3–5 people (friends, classmates, people in the Wharton admit forum) and run practice TBDs. Use HBS case materials, McKinsey case prompts, or business school sample cases. Run 20–30 minute discussions and debrief on what each person did well and where the group got stuck.

2. Prepare one strong analytical framework. Not industry-specific knowledge, but a general structure for thinking through a business decision: stakeholders, trade-offs, decision criteria, recommendation. Having a flexible framework in your head helps you structure ambiguous problems quickly.

3. Practice synthesis out loud. This is a specific verbal skill. Practice summarizing the state of a discussion in 3–4 sentences. "Here's where we've landed, here's what's still unresolved, here's the key decision we need to make." This gets easier with reps.

4. Watch yourself on video. Most people don't realize how they come across in group settings. Record a practice TBD and watch it. Are you making eye contact? Are you listening when others speak, or formulating your next point? Are you talking too much or too little?

5. Read your Wharton essays again. The TBD is a test of whether the person in the room matches the person described in the application. Your narrative — why you're applying, what you're building, how you work with others — should be integrated, not compartmentalized.

What Happens After the TBD

After the group exercise, there's typically a brief individual component — either a short one-on-one interview or a written reflection. This is where you can reinforce the analytical clarity and self-awareness that the TBD tested.

For the broader Wharton Moelis application — essays, recommendations, and school research — see the Wharton school guide. For help building the full application, the playbook includes interview preparation frameworks. For one-on-one coaching, reach out here.